The pair continued walking the streets of Magnolia Town, looking for the site of where the newest contract would be. It was, yet again, another farmer who had some problem that needed to be solved. It was a tedious life but that was how people to make a living. Charlotte was off, doing God knows whatever so Kazuma found it best to relax a bit for the time being. It had been quite a while since he had did any real training, so he figured it be best to do so. His skills needed polishing if he was ever going to accomplish an overarching goal of his. Charlotte would find him when the time came, so it was time to get started. Finding a clearing away from everyone or anything that would be damaged, Kazuma took off his shirt and began preparing himself. Closing his eyes, he began to focus, harnessing all bit only a small portion of his magic. Slamming his foot on the ground, a large slab of rock, many times his own size slowly lifted from the ground. It’s sheer weight and size was tremendous, but this would just be the beginning of his training. Taking another deep breath, he shoots his hands upward, sending the chunk high into the air. Once it reaches a certain height, it begins to descend at an alarming speed. Kazuma kneels downward, breathing heavily and a good deal drained from the magic used to create it. Sweat beaded from his face, his eyes flushed but he knew he needed to keep going. Using the small portion of magic he deliberately spared, he activated the magic he wanted to train.

“Earth Dragon’s Scales” he roared as his body glowed in a bright light before being completely covered in light brown scales. His body felt weak, his vision slightly blurry but he needed to press on and continue the training. Jumping up high into the air, Kazuma rears his arm backwards, punching the chunk at its base. The rocks shattered into smaller pieces, each of them all falling at different paces. Kazuma could feel the Earth Dragon Scales wavering but continue to push through the fatigue. He needed to do this in order to become stronger, for their sake. His mind drifts a bit, back to thoughts he had long since pushed in the back corners of his mind. His sisters murdered before his very eyes, him helpless to do a thing about it. All he could do was watch the life drain from their eyes. All he could do was hear their cries and pleadings, all of which fell on deaf ears. The faint smile the youngest gave before she died; seemingly giving her blessing for Kazuma to live. This drove him to be the best, anything else was second rate. Even though he appeared cold, even though he appeared uncaring, this is what he truly was. Being shaken back from his thoughts, he punched the piece of rock in front of him, shattering upon contact. He quickly followed up with shattering another rock and another until it devolved into a race against time to smash all of the rocks. Each hit drove him to shatter more and more, each rock showing the faces of those that did this to his sisters all those years ago. With one final punch, he shatters the last of the falling rocks. The crumbles fall harmlessly to the ground as Kazuma’s body follow suit, completely exhausted. As he hits the ground, the Earth Dragon’s Scales begin disappearing, the reserves requiring to sustain the spell gone. He had managed to keep the spell at its peak despite most of his magic being used up. It was a good day’s worth of training, the first of many. As he lay there, his vision slightly blurred, he saw a familiar shadow being cast above him. It was Charlotte, who had returned from his activities and looked at Kazuma with a peculiar face.

“What the hell are you doing? You look like Dog shit. Have you been training again?”

Kazuma batted his eyes once, the equivalent of a yes as Charlotte sighed and helped him up. He knew of Kazuma’s past troubles and understood it, perhaps better than anyone else could. There wasn’t a need to berate him or anything when it came to his past. It was considered off limits. For now, he’d just help him rest up and recover. They had to meet a farmer the next day.

Things had grown quite boring in Magnolia Town. The two had done all of the major jobs, beaten the “bad guys” and were heralded as something akin to a hero. Kazuma loved and longed for the admiration but he felt himself wanting more. He needed to go out and find more adventures to go out, beat the crap out of new things. Plus, he’d overstayed his welcome in his eyes. All of his life since that day, he has kept traveling. Never truly settling down and bouncing from place to place. This was no different. He needed to get out, explore all of what Fiore had to offer. Charlotte stood at the outskirts of the town, seemingly waiting for Kazuma to show. He had a bag full of items, probably of which he used Kazuma’s own money to buy. They exchanged pleasantries and their typical banter before heading out, not really sure where they were going next.

“These towns are beginning to bore me. I want something fun, something extravagant. Did you happen to snag a few missions like that? Preferably one at the Hot Springs again!”

Charlotte sifted around in the bag that carried the missions and pulled one out. Instantly his color grew pale, the once jovial expression turning into one of lament.